The stronger the Assembly, the better the governance

"Under the present system there has been a built-in delay of several years for powers to be devolved to the Assembly, or to find a slot in Westminster’s legislative calendar to make Wales-specific legislation. That delay has meant, in some cases, a rush to legislate before the end of the term of the present Assembly.  Much of the quality time which could and should have been spent on creating and scrutinising Welsh legislation has been spent in haggling with Westminster over the transfer of powers."


http://waleshome.org/2011/01/the-stronger-the-assembly-the-better-the-governance/

Your Freedom

"Nominate laws and regulations you would like to see abolished.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg today issued a call to arms against pointless regulation and unnecessary bureaucracy, asking the public how they want the Government to redress the balance between the citizen and the state. "


http://yourfreedom.hmg.gov.uk/

UK: Open Source, Open Standards and Re–Use: Government Action Plan

[Image: Internetnews]

Open Source, Open Standards and Re–Use: Government Action Plan

"Re-use as a practical principle: Learning from others is a key aspect of the CIO Council’s operating principles. Where open source solutions are evaluated and approved by one part of Government, that evaluation should not be repeated but should be shared. To support this, Departments will keep and share records of their approval and use of open source, including open source components within composite solutions."

"Open Standards: The Government will specify requirements by reference to open standards and require compliance with open standards in solutions where feasible. It will support the use of Open Document Format (ISO/IEC 26300:2006) as well as emerging open versions of previously proprietary standards (eg ISO 19005-1:2005 (“PDF”) and ISO/IEC 29500 (“Office Open XML formats”). It will work to ensure that government information is available in open formats, and it will make this a required standard for government websites."

Full announcement here:


http://www.cio.gov.uk/transformational_government/open_source/action.asp

Also reported as:

Open Source, Open Standards and Re-Use: UK Government Policy

"The U.K. government is stating that it can clearly see that Free Software development principles of cooperation and transparency are beneficial and save money, and the U.K. Government is stating that it wants more of that, in no uncertain terms, when it comes to the infrastructure that is now running the Country and on which its citizens now so critically depend. "


http://www.advogato.org/article/1002.html


Government promises more open-source use

"The UK government could save millions of pounds every year if it made more use of open source as part of a competitive procurement system."


http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39618454,00.htm


Government pushes open source with 10-point plan

"The key objectives are to ensure that the government adopts open standards and uses them to communicate with citizens and businesses that use open source systems."

http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/02/25/235006/government-pushes-open-source-with-10-point-plan.htm


UK really gets FOSS

"In the Policy section, we read even better ideas. Infact we see an idea of calculating the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) to its logical conclusion.
Procurement decisions will be made on the basis on the best value for money solution to the business requirement, taking account of total lifetime cost of ownership of the solution, including exit and transition costs, after ensuring that solutions fulfil minimum and essential capability, security, scalability, transferability, support and manageability requirements

To summarise:
TCO = license cost + (exit + transition) costs + security costs + transferable costs + support costs + manageability costs

This is where the real TCO of proprietary software will go sky high. For those vendors who love lock-ins, their exit/transition costs will be prohibitive. For those who have poor security or virus prone, you will be held accountable. Then for those suppliers who dictate user unfriendly EULAs which restrict transferability, well ... make it more consumer oriented, or die!"


http://www.openmalaysiablog.com/2009/02/uk-really-gets-it.html



U.K. Throws Weight Behind Open Source

""Where there is no significant overall cost difference between open and non-open source products, open source will be selected on the basis of its additional inherent flexibility," the U.K.'s open source action plan states. "

http://www.internetnews.com/software/article.php/380686/UK+Throws+Weight+Behind+Open+Source.htm



U.K. Endorses OpenDocument Format

"The U.K. government is requiring compliance with open standards when feasible. It will work to ensure that government information is available in open formats and make open formats a required standard for government Web sites under its "Open Source, Open Standards and Re-Use: Government Action Plan." "


http://visualstudiomagazine.com/news/article.aspx?editorialsid=10644&rss=1

http://gcn.com/articles/2009/02/26/uk-endorses-odf.aspx


Government expands supports for ODF and open source software

""The fact that the UK government will use open standards in its procurement specifications and require solutions to comply with open standards, is a significant development that will ensure competition among multiple competing products on different platforms," said OpenForum Europe chief executive Graham Taylor."

http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/02/26/235038/government-expands-supports-for-odf-and-open-source.htm

Lords baffled by new-fangled Office 2007

"Members of the House of Lords are having trouble opening Word 2007 documents - because they are "incompatible" with their current Office software.

The House of Lords Information Committee's annual report claims that the peers are having problems opening documents sent by colleagues in the civil service, who are running on Office 2007."

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/239751/lords-baffled-by-newfangled-office-2007.html

Open Document Format in National Archives

Petition

“Recently it was announced that National Archives are converting their stock of electronic documents into Microsoft Open XML format. This format is not supported outside of Microsoft’s own products and ties the public to purchasing Microsoft Office should they wish to view the products, which is a cost of around £80-120 depending on version. It also ties a user to puchasing Microsoft Windows which is a cost of roughly £150 for the Basic edition or purchasing a new PC with Windows which is a cost of at around £200 for a new machine. Instead Open Document Format which is an accepted ISO standard unlike Open XML should be used. Open Document Format is supported on many major platforms and is freely available at no charge. It include all the necessary features for documents otherwise it would not be the ISO standard. There should not be a £250 charge to use Microsoft for accessing the National Archives electronically especially in light of the companies ongoing litigation with the EU regarding its anti-competitive actions.”

Response

"The National Archives is committed to preserving electronic records that are both authentic, and easily accessible by users. Wherever possible, records are made available online in a format which can be accessed using any standard web browser. Electronic records transferred to The National Archives are always preserved in their native format; if the native format is not suitable for online access then a separate ‘presentation’ version is created. No single format can address the diversity of electronic records held by The National Archives. At present, documents transferred in Microsoft Office formats are converted to Portable Document Format for online access. PDF is an international standard (ISO 32000-1: 2008) and is supported by all major browsers, either natively or via freely available plug-ins. The National Archives does not currently plan to convert any records to Microsoft Office Open XML format."


http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page16957

National Risk Register

"As announced in the National Security Strategy, the Government has published a National Risk Register which sets out our assessment of the likelihood and potential impact of a range of different risks that may directly affect the UK.

The National Risk Register is designed to increase awareness of the kinds of risks the UK faces, and encourage individuals and organisations to think about their own preparedness. The register also includes details of what the Government and emergency services are doing to prepare for emergencies."

http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/reports/national_risk_register.aspx

Show Us a Better Way

"Tell us what you'd build with public information and we could help fund your idea!"





http://www.showusabetterway.co.uk/call/

YouGov - System Error

... In Russian



http://my.yougov.com/html/system_error.html?aspxerrorpath=/Default.aspx

YouGov

"YouGov is an international internet-based market research firm launched in the UK in May 2000 by Stephan Shakespeare (now Chief Innovation Officer) and Nadhim Zahawi (CEO). In 2005 the company opened an office in the Middle East, and in 2007 it further expanded by acquiring market research firms in the USA, Germany and Scandinavia, which are now part of the YouGov Group YouGov is a member of the British Polling Council."



(Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouGov)



http://www.yougov.com/uk/panel/

NIM39140 - National Insurance Numbers (NINOs): Format and Security: What to do if you suspect or discover fraud

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/nimmanual/NIM39140.htm

The National Archives - UK Government Records

"The National Archives is at the heart of information policy - setting standards and supporting innovation in information and records management across the UK, and providing a practical framework of best practice for opening up and encouraging the re-use of public sector information."

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

Docuticker

"DocuTicker offers a hand-picked selection of resources, reports and publications from government agencies, NGOs, think tanks and other public interest organizations."

http://www.docuticker.com/

Rights and Responsibilities - UK Law

Find links to information about your rights and responsibilities depending on your situation in life.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Rightsandresponsibilities/index.htm